Chance and Truth
by Itachi-21
Summary: As the Fourth Great Shinobi War is declared, the dead Akatsuki members are put through a test by two Gods. Whether or not they pass the test as a group determines their future. They're S-ranked criminals, so the test should be easy, right? Not when all they have is taijutsu and they need to protect three reckless girls from monsters that they've never seen before...
1. The Decided Fate

**Okay, readers. This story, along with ****Five Dawns****, are both derived from the Mind of the Heart (MOTH) series, which you all know has been discontinued due to a lack of plot. Fortunately, I have an epic plot planned for this one, so I hope to be able to maintain the motivation to finish it! Of course, I'll need the support of my readers. ^_^**

**Also, I noticed that when I write stories that are meant to feature more than two people, I tend to focus more on one person and forget about the others. If you see this beginning to happen in this story, please feel free to leave me a message telling me to get back on track. Thanks!**

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**Opening Theme: ****Shōjo S by SCANDAL**

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_**Chapter 1: The Decided Fate**_

A high school girl with golden hair and brown eyes sat idly in the classroom, tapping her mechanical pencil on her desk absentmindedly as she stared out the window at the autumn leaves fluttering to the ground. The sleeves of the white shirt of her school uniform were rolled up to her elbows, and her legs were crossed at the knees. Her fingers fiddled disinterestedly with the cloth of her ankle-length, plaid skirt.

The teacher, a middle-aged man with glasses and a bald head, was going over material for a test that was scheduled for tomorrow. Unfortunately, more than half the class wasn't paying attention, either texting on their phones or chatting quietly with their neighbors. The teacher didn't seem to care. After all, it wasn't his loss if nobody passed.

_Brrrrrrrring!_

As the dismissal bell rang, all of the students jumped up and began to pack up. The teacher shut his notes and intoned, "Don't forget to study for the test tomorrow!" He sat down at his desk and began to typing on his computer.

The girl who had been staring out the window rose from her seat and pushed her calculus textbook into her bag. She zipped it up and slung it over one shoulder, wrinkling her slightly baggy shirt in a somewhat cool way. She twirled her pencil in her hand as she headed for the classroom door.

"Bye, Mr. Makleroth!" she called, waving her free hand lazily. The calculus teacher didn't look away from his computer screen as he returned her goodbye.

The female student left the classroom and immediately turned left, walking down the flight of stairs that took her from the second floor to the first floor. She paused in twirling her pencil to place her backpack on both shoulders to prepare for her walk home.

As she left the building and was about to cross the road, she heard someone calling her. The golden-haired girl turned to see another girl with black hair and blue eyes running towards her.

"Jade, wait for me!" The girl cried, stumbling slightly.

Jade sighed and brushed a strand of her golden hair behind one ear. "Calm down, Crystal. I'm waiting for you."

The two girls fell into step as they left school. "Say, Jade, can I come to your house to study today?" Crystal asked, smiling sweetly.

"Are your little sister's friends going to your house today?"

"Yeah, it's going to be loud, and I won't be able to study for the calculus test."

"Sure, you can come over. We'll study together."

"You're not going to nearly flunk the test this time, are you?" Crystal asked.

Jade gave her friend a mock glare. "Did you say something?"

"Nothing at all," Crystal quickly amended, although she knew that Jade couldn't possibly get angry with her, let alone physically harm her.

As the duo walked past the supermarket, Jade made a mental note to stop by for some more milk and eggs after school tomorrow. She probably needed some more vegetables, too. On second thought, she should probably buy the stuff today, when she was lucky enough not to have much homework.

"Hey, I'm going to drop my bag off at my house and come buy some groceries," Jade informed Crystal, "You'll be in charge of the house while I'm gone."

"No problem!" Crystal agreed. They passed the supermarket and stopped in front of a large white house. Crystal peered curiously at something that was sitting in front of the door to Jade's house. "Hey, Jade, did you get a cat recently?"

Jade blinked at the white cat that was sitting in front of her house. "No, I didn't. I haven't had time to pick out a cat. Besides, Silver's allergic, remember?"

"Ah, right," Crystal answered as they walked up and Jade shooed the cat away, "She starts sneezing if there are too many cats in a small, enclosed space."

"And yet, she still volunteers at the animal hospital…hmm?" Jade had pushed open the screen and stepped into her front porch to notice a medium-sized box placed directly in front of her door. She approached and picked it up carefully. "I don't remember ordering anything, and this box isn't even sealed properly." She gestured at the flaps sticking up from the top of the box.

"What's in it?" Crystal lifted the flaps more and peered inside curiously. Her blue eyes widened and she let out a squeal that sounded like a fangirl meeting her favorite male, anime character in real life.

"They're so cute!" she gushed, hearts practically leaping out of her eyes at the sight of the nine, sleeping kittens in the box.

"Speak of the devil," Jade muttered, "Hold this while I open the door." She passed the box to Crystal, who continued to coo over the baby cats. Jade sighed and pulled out a set of keys, pushing one into the keyhole and turning it. The lock clicked open, and Jade twisted the knob and pushed the door open. She and Crystal filed inside and the black-haired girl gently placed the box on the living room floor.

"You're gonna keep them, right?" Crystal pleaded, looking up at Jade.

"I…wait…but…how…huh?" Jade sputtered, "I don't want them, and what about Silver's allergy?"

"If Silver thinks it's a problem, then we can give them away, but you can't just cast out these nine kittens," Crystal argued, "Look at them!" She beckoned Jade closer to the box. The taller girl walked over and peered inside at the adorable kittens curled and snuggled against each other in their sleep.

There were two red kittens, two blue kittens, an orange kitten, a gray kitten, a black kitten, a yellow kitten, and a brown-and-black tabby. One of the red kittens had fluffy fur that stuck up in various places while the other's red fur looked sleek and smooth. The softer of the blue kittens was curled up against the sleek, red kitten with its nose tucked under a paw. The other blue one was curled up with its head placed on the flank of the black kitten, which was sleeping on its side. The orange kitten was snuggled with the soft, blue one and the sleek, red one while the yellow kit hugged the fluffy red one in its sleep. The gray kit was sprawled on top of the black-and-brown tabby, which shifted slightly in its sleep.

"Fine…" Jade gave in, "…I'll keep them for now, and you owe me for this!"

Crystal beamed. "I knew you'd agree!" she cheered as she reached into the box and began to take the kittens out one-by-one.

"You have idea how manipulative you can be," Jade said as she dropped her school bag onto the sofa and walked out of the house again. "I'm going to get some cat supplies as well. Don't forget to watch the house."

"I know!" Crystal called back as Jade shut the door. She checked on the sleeping kits one last time before turning to her backpack, pulling out her calculus textbook, and flipping to the chapter about trigonometry.

For about half an hour, the black-haired girl sat on the sofa and worked practice problems dealing with sine, cosine, and tangent. She was about halfway through her last problem when she heard a noise by her feet.

"_Mrrooow!_"

Crystal looked down to see that the gray kitten had awoken and was glaring at her with magenta eyes. The fur along its spine was sticking up, and the tip of its tail twitched back and forth.

"_Meooow!" _it yowled again, sounding as though it was accusing Crystal of something. Crystal put her book down and knelt down on the floor in front of the kitten, which backed away, still looking wary and aggressive. Crystal stuck out her hand to stroke it.

"You're awake, kitty. Sorry, but I don't have any food for you…ow!" She withdrew her hand as the kitten lashed out with its front paw, claws unsheathed.

The orange kitten let out an angry hiss and jumped on the gray one, which reared onto its hind legs and bared its tiny teeth. The two of them tangled in a mass of fluff and started rolling around on the carpet in a real fight.

"Oh, wait, no, please don't fight…" Crystal's attempts to stop the battle failed miserably.

The gray one pinned the orange one to the floor and spat in its face. The orange kitten hissed and struggled to throw its opponent off. Suddenly, the smaller of the blue kittens darted forward and dealt the gray one a harsh blow on the ear. The gray one screeched in pain as blood appeared from the nick, and the orange one took the chance to throw him off. The two regained their balance and faced each other again.

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"You little heathen, who the hell do you think you are?" Hidan snarled, preparing his kitty body for more fighting.

"I could ask you the same thing!" Yahiko spat back, "Who do _you_ think _you_ are, attacking a little girl like that?"

"I'll do what I want, kitty," Hidan extended his claws threateningly, "Stay out of my way."

"Right back at you, _kitty!_"

"Yahiko, Hidan. Please stop!" Nagato stepped between the two quarreling cats.

"Move, Nagato!" Yahiko commanded, crouching with his tail lashing back and forth, "I'm going to teach this _Hidan _a lesson on morals. Akatsuki members would never harm defenseless citizens."

Hidan laughed. "You must be suffering from amnesia, orange, because the Akatsuki is made up of S-ranked criminals! What makes you think we care about morals?"

Yahiko froze. "What?" He turned to the red kitten that stood in front of him. "_Nagato!_"

"This is wasting time," Sasori, the fluffy red kit, muttered, "Who is that orange guy anyway?"

"Dunno, yeah," Deidara flicked his yellow tail, "But I don't see Tobi or Zetsu here."

Kisame twitched his whiskers and leaned closer to Itachi. "Any ideas, Itachi-san?"

The black kitten blinked and said, "Judging by their actions and words, the red one called Nagato and the orange one called Yahiko know each other, and I'm fairly certain that Nagato is the current leader of Akatsuki."

"How can you tell?"

"His eyes," Itachi replied, "They look the same as Leader-sama's. I'm guessing that Yahiko was the leader of Akatsuki before Nagato, and while Yahiko was leader, Akatsuki wasn't made up of S-ranked criminals like us."

Meanwhile, Yahiko was giving Nagato a serious lecture. "You took that person's advice, didn't you? Even though I warned you that he couldn't be trusted! What's gotten into you, Nagato? Akatsuki was created to overthrow Hanzo, and now it's become a group of wanted criminals."

He could have gone on and on if Jade hadn't come home then. "Had any trouble, Crystal?" Jade asked as she dropped loads of shopping bags onto the kitchen table in the next room.

"Just a fight between two kits," Crystal replied, getting up and walking into the kitchen as well, leaving the nine kittens in the living room alone.

"Hey, get over here," Kakuzu told the others from where he sat in front of the window, "This is important." He flicked his tabby tail for emphasis.

The rest of the present Akatsuki members pushed themselves in front of the window and gazed out.

"What is this?" Konan whispered, ears twitching.

The scenery outside definitely did not belong to Amegakure or Konohagakure or any other village that they could think of. The houses were too wide and spread out. A black path crawled its way around the buildings and occasionally, a big, loud piece of machinery would roll by on the path.

"Where are we, yeah?"

"Is this a village that's managed to stay hidden all these years and we haven't known about it until now?" Yahiko pondered, pressing a paw against the glass.

"Right," Hidan said, strolling up to the window, "Now let's break this crap and get out of…holy Jashin!"

A fully-grown white cat had suddenly appeared in front of them on the other side of glass. Startled, Hidan and Yahiko both let out surprised exclamations and fell off the window ledge. Deidara had jumped and pressed up against Sasori, who ended up toppling off the ledge as well.

The white cat stared at the Akatsuki as it sat in front of the window with its paws tucked under its chest. This suspicious behavior made the Akatsuki wary and alert as they stared right back.

Hidan bounded onto the window ledge again and started pawing at the glass. "What are you looking at, heathen?" he meowed, "I'll claw your eyes out!"

The white cat narrowed its eyes at the gray one, but didn't seem to care for Hidan's threats. After a few seconds of watching Hidan struggle to break the window, the cat's gaze slid past Hidan and the creature jumped off the windowsill outside and vanished.

Jade and Crystal walked back into the room, and Jade walked over and scooped up Hidan. "This is the one that got injured?"

"Yeah." Crystal pointed out the nick in Hidan's ear.

"I'll take him to the animal hospital after school tomorrow," Jade said, stroking Hidan's head and making the immortal purr.

The rest of the Akatsuki stared in shock as Hidan seemed to realize what he was doing. "What the hell?" he screeched, "Why am I acting like a cat?"

"I have a bad feeling…about…this…" Kakuzu trailed off as Crystal dangled a string in front of the kits. An irresistible urge rose in all of the furry little chests, and soon, many little paws were reaching into the air in an attempt to grasp the string.

"You, too, Konan?" Yahiko wailed as he gave in to his kitty desire, swiping at the string with his front paws.

"Be quiet, Kisame," Itachi warned before the blue, male kitten could say anything. The black kit dropped onto all fours and jumped at the string, missing by a centimeter and falling on top of Sasori, who let out an irritated hiss.

"I am going to _kill_ whoever did this to us," Kakuzu growled angrily as his green eyes followed the end of the string as it swung back and forth.

"So not only are we in cat bodies, but we have the instincts of a cat, too, yeah?" Deidara grumbled as he disentangled himself from Nagato.

After a while, Jade and Crystal left them alone so they could study for school tomorrow. Unfortunately, neither of them seemed to be able to focus on anything except for the nine adorable furballs in Jade's house.

Outside, the white cat stayed hidden as it watched the nine Akatsuki members mourn over the loss of their dignity from that little game of 'attack the string.' The white cat narrowed its red eyes slightly and spoke to itself.

"Hmm. It seems like the spell worked." Its voice was that of a female and sounded as though the cat wasn't going to take any worthless blabber from anyone. The cat turned and began to walk down towards the street. "I should go and inform my partner of the success, and make sure he has paused time in that other dimension. We don't want those little idiots to go back to some childish and weak illusion. 'Tsuki no Me.' Ha! Give me a break." The cat scoffed as it rounded the corner of the street and disappeared in a flash of pink light.

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**To be continued in Chapter 2: The Discretion of Time and Space…**

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**Ending Theme: Glow of a Firefly by Ikimono-Gakari**


	2. The Discretion of Time and Space

**Opening Theme: ****Shōjo S by SCANDAL**

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_**Chapter 2: The Discretion of Time and Space**_

A pink light flashed in the middle of the room and vanished to reveal the white cat that had been watching the Akatsuki from before. The cat raised its head and looked around at the frozen figures around it.

"Kage's Summit, huh," it meowed, flicking its tail, "It's been a long time since I've come here. Are you sure that this will hold out?" The cat's red eyes flicked to a shadowy corner of the room.

"It will," a voice from the shadow said, "I've frozen time in this dimension for now. Even after I unfreeze it, the five Kages will continue their meeting as if nothing happened. Have you seen the new Hokage?"

"Ah, yes," the cat peered at the man who was considered Hokage, "Shimura Danzo. A power-hungry old fool who challenged Sarutobi Hiruzen for Hokage. Trust him to make a snatch for power when everything else is in turmoil."

"Everyone is an old fool to you," the shadow chuckled, "I remember when you called a newborn squirrel an 'old fool.'"

"They are old fools," the cat argued, "They are stupid, lazy, and greedy. What else can I call them?"

"Who is 'they' in this case?"

The cat sat down and wrapped its tail around its paws. "I don't know…humanity."

"Well, partner, humans don't live for as long as we do, so you cannot expect them to be as wise as the gods," the shadow coaxed, "And you can't exactly call them old when you're, what, billions of years old?"

The cat glared at the shadow. "I may be billions of years old but I look twenty-five!"

"Of course, of course!" the shadow relented. Then it muttered, "Never insult the appearance of a woman or a narcissist."

The cat's ear twitched. "I heard that."

The god in the shadow was about to reply when he suddenly remembered something. "Oh, no, partner! We have to return to our realm now. The appointment was scheduled to be in exactly five minutes and forty-three seconds."

"Oh?" The cat said, "Then we should get going."

A man of average height with dark blue hair and red eyes slowly appeared from the shadow. He wore dark blue robes with a silver lining, and there was a silver helmet-like object worn on his head. His long hair was tied in a loose ponytail with bangs framing the sides of his face.

The cat jumped onto the man's shoulder, holding onto the fabric with unsheathed claws. "Ready," it meowed. The man nodded, and the two of them disappeared in a flash of blue light.

The two of them reappeared in front of a tall, black tower that must have been millions of feet high. Black smoke swirled around the tower, and white lightning occasionally flickered in them. Many portals formed a circle at the base of the tower.

"Master!"

The cat and the man looked towards the front steps of the tower to see a teenage boy running towards them. The boy wore a black cloth around his head and was dressed in scarlet robes. He excitedly approached the two newest arrivals and bowed respectfully.

"Master, you're being waited on," he addressed the cat and then turned to the blue-haired man, "Welcome back, sir."

"Nice to see you again, Ryuu-kun," the man replied, smiling.

The cat jumped from the man's shoulder to Ryuu's. "Let's go, Ryuu," it ordered. "I'll see you later," it said to the blue-haired man as Ryuu started to head back into the tower.

As Ryuu walked through the halls of the tower with the cat on his shoulder, he turned and asked, "Are you going to change back to your normal form, Master?"

"Don't be a fool," the cat replied, staring straight ahead with its red eyes, "My future mission is in the industrialized realm, and I can't strut around in my normal form there. I need to get used to this form."

Ryuu's face fell slightly at his master's sharp rebuke, but he tried not to sound dejected. "Of course, Master. My apologies."

"It is fine," the cat meowed, flicking its tail, "Are we there yet?"

"Yes, Master," Ryuu stopped in front of a bronze-colored door. "Right here." He reached out and pushed open the door, and his master let out a rare purr of approval.

The room behind the door was like a science lab. Glass cases were lining the walls, each filled with some kind of strange or terribly-mutilated specimen. On the ceiling, there were many monitors, used to keep an eye on what happens in each of the dimensions that the gods had sovereignty over.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little kitty-god." A woman with short and spiky purple hair appeared from a corner of the room with her hands in the pockets of her lab coat. She smirked. "And Ryuu-kun, too. You took your time getting here."

"My partner was being a fool," the white cat replied, "He lost track of time while trying to annoy me."

The purple-haired goddess chuckled. "I am not surprised. Now come. You want to check on the new specimen you asked me to build for the test you planned, don't you?"

"Yes, lead the way." Ryuu and the white cat followed the scientist to the back of the room and stopped when they saw the unconscious creature crouched in a glass case. The female scientist smiled.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she laughed.

_That is the ugliest thing I've ever seen. _Ryuu and the white cat thought.

The creature in the case had wrinkled, dark gray skin covering every inch of its body. There were two, long, antenna-like things sticking up from its head at where its ears were supposed to be. Two bulging eyes sat above the small, narrow mouth. Its two hands looked human, but sharp claws were visible at the ends of its fingers. Its legs were folded under its body and its feet were equipped with claws as well. A foot-long tail protruded from its rear and was curled around one of its ankles.

"Well?" the scientist prompted, "Are you satisfied with its appearance?"

"I…guess," The white cat replied lamely, "Did you program the right instincts into its brain?"

"Yep!" The scientist smiled.

"Did you make sure that only the Akatsuki members can see it?"

"Mm-hmm! I have also made sure that the girls can't see it, and that anyone who's not Akatsuki, one of the girls, or one of us will merely see it as a cause of an accident that's possible in their world," the purple-haired woman explained.

"Could you explain that last bit a little?"

"Let's say that this creature was to attack one of the industrial-world girls in a supermarket," the scientist elaborated, "The girls cannot see the creature at all, but the Akatsuki members can. Meanwhile, a random bystander may see the creature as an escaped murderer or some kind of psycho trying to kill someone. I've also programmed it so that bystanders won't think to help the girls. This test is just for the Akatsuki members, no?"

"You're right," the white cat agreed, "And I don't say this often, but that is pure genius. Have you also built in the weak spot?"

"The space between the shoulders," the scientist replied, "Deliver a strong enough blow and the creature will shatter to pieces and dissolve."

"This is so cool!" Ryuu whispered, pressing his hands against the glass container holding the creature.

"Hmm," the cat grunted in approval, "Send this one straight to the industrial realm. You can make another without the original, right?"

"The case is designed to make one whenever there's nothing inside. We'll have an endless supply of these creatures. They're called Juggernauts, by the way."

"Interesting name choice," the cat commented, "We won't need them forever though. Probably for about one to two years."

"Got it," the scientist grinned, "I'll tinker with the case a bit so that it'll stop after two years. Now, tell me about the spell."

"Why do you want to know about the spell?"

"Aww, come on!" the scientist whined, "I'm curious!"

The cat pondered for a bit before relenting. "Alright then, only a bit. Ryuu, go wait outside."

"Yes, Master." Ryuu looked hurt as he left the room and closed the door behind him. The white cat sat down on the floor of the science lab with its fluffy tail curled over its paws. The purple-haired goddess sat down next to it with an expectant look on her face.

"First of all, Karura," the cat said, "You will not repeat this to anybody. The only ones who will know of this plan are me, you, and my partner."

Karura smiled and brushed some purple hair out of her eyes. "You have my promise."

"Hm," the cat grunted, "The spell is set up in six stages. Right now, the Akatsuki is in the first stage, which has them in cat bodies with cat instincts. They have no choice but to act like cats in this stage."

"How do they move from stage to stage?" Karura interrupted.

"That's when the Juggernauts come into play," the feline twitched its tail, "Every time the Akatsuki successfully finds a desire to protect one of the girls from these creatures, they will get to transform back into their human forms to do so. However, there is a time limit in which they can remain in their human forms. Once that time is up, they will lose their human forms but will be in the next stage of the spell."

"How is each stage different?"

"Each stage takes them one step closer to regaining their human adult forms permanently. However, there will be a final test after they've cleared all six stages to see if they learned anything throughout the course of the staged test."

Karura smirked. "You know, you're quite evil."

The cat blinked and began to wash its paws nonchalantly. "What do you mean?"

Karura leaned forward. "You think of this as a game, don't you? And don't try to lie," she added when the cat looked as though it was going to argue, "I can see it in your feline eyes. You set this up to tease those poor S-ranked criminals."

"Perhaps I did," the cat admitted, "Although this is probably for the best of the shinobi dimension, too. If we were to step in and stop what's-his-name…Uchiha Potato?"

"Obito," Karura corrected, "You need to make an effort to remember names."

"Too much work," the cat meowed, "Anyway, if we were to step in and stop Potato, the little Madera-wannabe, then we might as well just destroy the shinobi dimension altogether. Our power is too great to use against humans."

_There really wasn't any point in correcting her name memorization, was there…_ Karura deadpanned to herself. "You're right," she said out loud, "The only time when it's safe for us to interfere directly with the other dimensions is if a god or god-apprentice decides to cause trouble in them. And it's Madara. Madera is Spanish for 'wood.'"

"You know what I'm trying to say." The cat got to its paws and padded towards the lab door. "I need to get going now. I have to prepare nine stupid nitwits for their test. I'll be back in a week."

"Alright. Have fun teasing them!" Karura called. There was a brief silence before the cat spoke again.

"Hey, Karura…"

"Yeah?"

The white feline turned from where she was standing in front of the door. "Open the door for me, will you? I can't reach the handle."

**To be continued in ****Chapter 3: Kuukan's Test****…**

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**Ending Theme: Glow of a Firefly by Ikimono-Gakari**


	3. Kuukan's Test

**Opening Theme: ****Shōjo S by SCANDAL **

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_**Chapter 3: Kuukan's Test**_

"Come here, you little bastard!" Jade shouted as she chased Hidan-kitten around the house. "I'm warning you, you little furball. I just took a math test and I'm not in the mood to put up with your antics right now!"

"Take that back and back off, heathen!" Hidan screeched as he clawed his way up the window curtain, "I'm not going anywhere!"

Of course, all Jade heard was '_mmrreeeooooow!' _She lunged and seized the gray kitten around the middle. Hidan flailed and writhed in her grip as Jade carried him over to the box where the other eight felines were already sitting quietly. Crystal watched anxiously as Hidan fought Jade with his entire kitten might but still ended up being dropped into the box, where he was immediately flattened by the brown-and-black tabby.

"Thank you!" Jade exclaimed as she shut the box and put a book on top to prevent any cats from getting out. "Let's go, Crystal." She scooped up the box and carried outside as Crystal followed and locked the door to the house.

Jade put the box on the floor in the back of the car and got into the driver's seat as Crystal slid into the passenger's seat. Once everything was ready, Jade started the engine and backed the car out of the driveway and onto the street. She started driving towards the animal hospital.

After about two minutes a driving, both girls heard the sound of vomiting coming from the box. Since they were at a red light, both turned their heads to stare at the box as the sound was heard again.

"That's…" Jade trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"Poor kitty." Crystal shook her head as the light turned green and Jade pushed down on the accelerator. The sound of up-chucking didn't lessen until they pulled into the animal hospital parking lot.

Crystal lifted one flap of the box cautiously and sighed. "The orange one is carsick," she told Jade.

"Too bad it wasn't the gray one," Jade answered, clearly still not forgiving Hidan for being such a pain earlier.

Hidan opened his jaws to say something was Kakuzu cuffed him over the ear. "Be quiet, Hidan."

Yahiko crouched in a corner of the box, huddling on his belly as Nagato and Konan soothed him by patting his head and back with their little furry paws. Jade scooped up the box, making a few kittens stumble on their paws. Unfortunately, Deidara lost his balance and slipped into the puddle of Yahiko's vomit.

"Oh, gross, yeah!" he yowled, staring down at his soiled pelt with a horrified expression. Bad luck must have hit him twice because his cat instincts took over and he began to lick at the vomit in his fur. Hisses of disgust sounded around the yellow kit and some other Akatsuki members began to scoot away from him.

"Kakuzu, I'm going to help you kill whoever did this to us, yeah," Deidara growled as he continued to lap at his pelt, "This is disgusting!"

While the Akatsuki were talking amongst themselves about Deidara's pelt, Jade and Crystal had entered the animal hospital. Jade sat in a chair in the waiting room while Crystal went to speak with the woman behind the counter.

"Um, we have an appointment scheduled with the student-veterinarian called Silver," Crystal informed the lady, "It's at 3:30, thirty minutes from now."

The lady smiled. "Alright. I'll let Silver know that you're here. She's working here as a part-time veterinarian, by the way."

"She is?" Crystal gasped, "She never told me."

"She just registered yesterday. Today's her first day actually working."

"I see. Thank you very much!" Crystal walked back to where Jade sat waiting with the box of kittens, which were all peering curiously over the edge of the box.

"I heard," Jade told Crystal, "And I can't really blame Silver for not telling us before. We don't have any classes together, and even our schedules outside of school are quite different."

"Who the heck is Silver?" Hidan whispered fiercely.

"Probably a friend of theirs," Itachi said nonchalantly as his cat instincts made him lick his paws. When he noticed that almost every other kitty was staring at him, he added in a dangerous tone, "_What?_"

The other cats quickly looked away. Their plan was to get back to their human form, not to get scratched to bits by the black kitten of doom.

With nothing to do, Crystal reached into the box and began petting Deidara on the head. The kitten purred and nudged Crystal's hand, and the black-haired girl tickled his chin. "What did you think of the calculus test today?" she asked.

"It was…okay," Jade replied, "There were a few questions where I just did a bit of random stuff because I didn't know how to do the problem."

"How about grade-wise?"

"Um, probably above an eighty. You?"

"Probably in the nineties, but I might be wrong."

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps made the girls break off their conversation. A door to the right of the front counter opened and a female veterinarian stepped out into the waiting room.

She had long red hair that was slightly wavy and reached down to her waist. She wore a white doctor's coat over the school uniform, which was the white shirt with a maroon and gold-striped tie and an ankle-length plaid skirt. A pair of brown leather women's dress shoes was visible beneath the hem of the skirt, and she carried a clipboard in her arms.

"Jade! Crystal!" she called, waving excitedly at the duo.

"Hey, Silver. How's everything?" Jade replied as Crystal gave Silver a hug.

"Same as usual," Silver said as she bent over to look inside the box, "These are the kitties? They're so cute!" She reached over to pet Konan, who licked her fingers. "This one looks terrible though," she said, pointing at Yahiko, who still looked slightly queasy.

"He got carsick on the way here," Crystal explained as they followed Silver to an examination room.

"Oh, really?" Silver turned and scrutinized the cats carefully. She examined every single one and stared deep into their eyes, unknowingly making the Akatsuki members squirm uncomfortably under her green-eyed gaze.

Out of nowhere, she asked a question that made the cats freeze and Jade and Crystal start.

"Some of them look kind of like the Akatsuki, don't they?"

Jade and Crystal peered at the petrified group of cats. "Now that you mention it, this one has Pein's eyes," Jade picked up Nagato, "But his fur looks like Nagato's hair. Do they make contact lenses for cats?" She turned Nagato upside down and began shaking him, checking if his Rinnegan was actually some kind of cat contacts.

Silver snatched Nagato from Jade's grip. "Don't do that. You might drop him and hurt him." Nagato looked tremendously grateful until Silver placed him on the examination table and began to attach wires in various places on his body. He started to panic and tried to rip the wires off.

"Don't do that, kitty," she gently reprimanded, "It won't hurt you. I promise."

Meanwhile, Jade had scooped up Itachi and was examining his eyes as well. Itachi stared back, intending to use a genjutsu to force Jade into releasing him. However, as he tried to cast the illusionary technique, he realized that he couldn't feel any chakra swirling towards his Sharingan.

"Itachi-san, is something wrong?" Kisame inquired from where he sat in the box. He had noticed Itachi's confusion and tension after spending so long with the Uchiha as a partner when they had been alive.

"I cannot seem to cast a genjutsu, nor can I feel any chakra," Itachi stated, squirming in Jade's grasp until the girl put him down.

"That's inconvenient," Sasori said, "I can't feel any chakra either, and I doubt we can even form seals with these damned cat paws."

"No way, yeah!" Deidara stared at his paws, "Does this mean I can't make any more art?"

"Brat, nobody likes your pathetic excuse for art anyway," Sasori retorted. The two artists started bickering over the definition of art for the first time since they arrived in the industrial world.

"Where are Zetsu and Tobi?" Konan interrupted their argument, "Why aren't they here?"

"I don't know," Nagato said, having just been put back in the box. Silver had deemed him to be terribly skinny and said that he just needed to fill out. Other than that, he was perfectly healthy. "There might be something that we have but Zetsu and Tobi don't."

"We're not psychos," Hidan suggested as Sasori was lifted out of the box for the examination.

Deidara scoffed, "Says the one who harms himself to honor his nonexistent god, yeah."

"I have a theory," Konan announced quietly before Deidara and Hidan could get into a physical fight.

"Please tell, Konan," Kakuzu invited.

Konan turned to Kisame and asked, "What is the last thing you remember doing in the shinobi world?"

Kisame blinked before he thought back. "Let's see…I was sent on a spying mission to see where the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi and the Hachibi were, and I was discovered," he admitted, "I remember they captured me and was trying to dig out information about the Akatsuki. I bit off my tongue to stop them and then committed suicide to keep the information safe."

"So you died. What about Zetsu and Tobi?"

"Oh, they were alive. I believe Zetsu was…"

"Okay, that's enough, Kisame. Thank you," Konan interrupted, "Now onto my theory. I believe that only the ones who died were transformed into cats and sent into this world."

There was a brief silence as the Akatsuki members pondered over her words. Sasori was put back in the box and Yahiko was taken out.

"That theory couldn't be one hundred percent accurate," Sasori said since he had overheard the conversation from the examination table, "We don't know how much time has passed since Kisame died, and Zetsu and Tobi might be dead by now as well."

"That's true," Konan sighed.

"Maybe our pasts have something in common, yeah," Deidara suggested, "Maybe we've all been misunderstood at some point."

"I have!" Hidan agreed.

"So have I," Kakuzu said.

"I guess I have been," Sasori admitted.

"I suppose so."

"I'm not too sure, but possibly."

"I haven't."

Every head simultaneously turned to where Itachi sat with his eyes closed. "You haven't, Itachi?" Konan repeated.

"No, I haven't," Itachi repeated, opening his eyes, "At least, I don't consider myself to have ever been misunderstood."

"Jashin damn it!" Hidan swore, "Well, that theory's out the window."

"Why don't we take a break from thinking and observe how things work in this world for now?" Yahiko suggested as he was placed back in the box, "The stuff we learn from observation could be important later on."

The rest of the Akatsuki voiced their agreements and began looking around the examination room. Their observations continued until the remaining members got their examinations. They were all declared healthy.

"Okay, we're done," Silver said as she took the wires off of Itachi, who had been last, "I'll stop by your house after I finish my shift, Jade." She put Itachi back in the box and stroked his head. "They were all wonderful patients, except for that one." She pointed at Hidan, who had put up a terrific fight when the redhead had tried to attach the wires to him.

Unfortunately, he was still being punished for his misbehavior by Yahiko, who had taken the liberty to sit on him.

Jade nodded and picked up the box again and Silver followed her and Crystal out the room to see them to the door. Unluckily, they all failed to notice the urgent notice about Itachi that had popped up late on the computer screen and was currently flashing.

_URGENT: THE ANIMAL HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH PULMONARY EDEMA! TREATMENT SHOULD BE ISSUED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!_

* * *

That night as Jade, Crystal, and Silver sat in Jade's kitchen treating the various scratches that Hidan had given them earlier, the Akatsuki sat by the window in the living room conversing on their current dilemma.

"We should just break out of here and try to end this Jashin-damned prank on our own!" Hidan complained.

Kakuzu clouted his ear with unsheathed claws. "Don't be stupid, Hidan," he snarled, "We know practically nothing about this world. We wouldn't survive on our own."

Nagato sighed and crouched on the carpet. "We have so many questions to answer right now. Where are we, why are we cats, who sent us here, why were we sent here, and how in the name of God do those girls know about Akatsuki?"

"Perhaps I can be of help."

Every single Akatsuki member shot to their paws at the new voice that came from the window ledge. A white she-cat sat there, staring at the Akatsuki with gleaming red eyes and her tail curled around her paws. The Akatsuki cats crouched, ready to leap into battle at any moment.

"Who the hell are you, and what do you mean 'help?'" Hidan spat, tail lashing.

The white cat looked unimpressed. "Tch. Are you always this rude to others?" she muttered, "No matter." She jumped down from the ledge gracefully. "But to answer your questions, my name is Kuukan, and yes, I can help you."

"What makes you think you can do that?" Nagato asked warily. Kuukan cast him a look.

"Because I am the one administering this test."

* * *

**To be continued in ****Chapter 4: The Task****…**

* * *

**Ending Theme: Glow of a Firefly by Ikimono-Gakari**


End file.
